The A to Z of Fiction to Reality: Ultraphone Ear-Disc

Here is something I didn't know: Buck Rogers first appeared as the character Anthony Rogers in the 1928 novella Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan. Anthony Rogers is a veteran soldier of The Great War (World War I) who ends up in a state of suspended animation for nearly 500 years. And suspended animation is probably a topic I could have covered; it has been around in fiction for a while (there's Rip Van Winkle, and I mentioned HG Wells Sleeper, and, oh, well, so many more), but we don't really have that worked out in a way where we can do it on purpose, yet, so I left it out. I say on purpose, because there have been a few times where people have ended up in accidental cases of suspended animation (like falling into a freezing lake) where we've been able to bring them back, but it's not something anyone can depend on.

Anyway...

The topic for the day is the ultraphone ear-disc. You may know it better as

or

Yeah, your bluetooth started out as military technology so that soldiers could have their hands free for weapons instead of needing to use a handheld radio. And that started out in Nowlan's story about a war 500 years in the future. So we have a guy writing just after World War I who already was seeing the need for soldiers to have "hands free" phones. heh Just to make this clear, wireless devices, specifically, the radio, had only just been invented. And radios were HUGE (I mean physically huge. There was an old radio down at the farm when I was a kid, and it was bigger than me). When Nowlan was writing his story, there was no idea, yet, of using radio for personal communication.

Some of the other things that Armageddon 2419 introduced (there are more):
1. remotely piloted drones (more radio)
2. telecommuting
3. e-purchasing
4. paratroopers

Armageddon was adapted into the Buck Rogers comic strip just a year later, and it mostly delves into space exploration after that, but that initial novella was quite visionary.

Bonus U (breaking news)

Ultrasound:

One of the shows I loved growing up, and, when I say loved, I mean loved, as in it was not negotiable as to whether or not I was going to get to watch it or not, and my family knew it, was Doctor Who. Other than the TARDIS, the Doctor had two things that were really cool: K-9 and his sonic screwdriver. The sonic screwdriver is kind of what it sounds like. Okay, well, it's not a screwdriver at all, at least, not in appearance, but it does use sound as a sort of a screwdriver, and, other than a lightsaber, it's one of the things I grew up wanting to have.

the latest Doctor with his screwdriver

There has been ongoing research into sound over the years, specifically ultrasound. That is, after all, how we got the ultrasound machine. There are even ultrasound techniques for non-invasive surgery. Yes, they don't have to cut you open, just use a beam of sound to take care of what ails you. The new development, though, is that some physicists at the University of Dundee got together and developed a way to lift and manipulate objects with sound alone. It's a pretty amazing achievement that could lead all sorts of places. One problem: I don't think it's something anyone's going to be carrying around in their pocket anytime soon.

Best Presents of 2011

Here we are at the last Tursday of the year. But it's still a Thursday, so that means the new Tib story is up. The last one introduced the Man with No Eyes; this one is titled "The Man with No Eyes." Go check out all the evilness he's up to. Oh, yeah, and Michael, too.

Which brings us back to the last Thursday of the year... It seems that there are a lot of "year in review" type posts going up, so I'm just going to skip that one. There's really nothing I can add to those lists. Well, except for one thing, I published a book. Go buy it.
Oh, well, okay, fine. I also bought a house and got a dog, but, really, I published a book, and you should go buy it. Then, you, too, can be a part of my year.

Everyone is on vacation this week, which hasn't left a lot of time for writing. If I hadn't started this week's Tib story last week, I wouldn't have finished  it for today. All of that to say that I don't have time for normal verbose post today. However, I will leave you with some images of the best presents from Christmas.

It was a mixed blessing where my daugher is concerned. Her favorite present was a sock monkey hat. We've had to return my daughter because of it. Yes, we no longer have the sweet, little girl we used to have. Now, we have:

Monkey-Head!

If you notice the shirt, she sort of had a sock monkey Christmas.

My oldest child is into all sorts of geekery. As he says, "I'm so glad I belong to a family of nerds." Here's his reaction to his favorite present (picked out by me):

And the present:

For those of you that don't know, that's a sonic screwdriver, Dr. Who's "weapon" of choice.

The middle child was in all kinds of paradise. He got enough Legos to occupy two entire days of building. This is the prize in his collection, though:

If you don't know what that is, there's no hope for you. Not even from Obi-Wan Kenobi. His little Lego people were so happy, they through a party:

Yes, that is Santa Yoda you're seeing in there. And a Christmas tree.

Me? I got a jacket. Which I desperately needed. I was very happy to receive it, and my kids loved giving it to me. But for cool factor? I got this:

That makes ice cubes or chocolate bars. I think I'm going to start with Han Solo peppermint bark (no peanut butter, because, for all of his talk, my son still hasn't tried that out).
My wife got earrings, but I have no picture (that I'm allowed to post).

So... I hope you all had a very wonderful holiday. Of whatever variation you observe. Or don't observe.

Have a Happy New Year!!!